WWE 2k16 provides everything that wrestling fans will want to see outside of the ring. Was it not for the long and annoying loading times, the creation system and general control that you have over things would be enough to get it into the main event at Wrestlemania. A few minor fixes and changes here and there would do wonders, but the constant loading and the frankly abominable issues with the fighting engine that remain unfixed destroy any semblance of realism and are enough to relegate it to the indies.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is not perfect, but the areas in which it lacks are relatively minor technical issues and the story does a great job of picking the player up to ensure that they jump right back into the action if they fall foul of a problem. Once you've beaten the campaign, you'll be tempted by the addictive Score Attack mode, as well as having an eye on playing through the whole thing again to pick up a few more achievements, something which - rarely these days - is no chore. The switch to a style of play that doesn't rely solely on raw firepower is the absolute key to the game's success and that, mixed with a plethora of action-packed adrenaline-boosting scenes, makes Lara's second return an absolute blast to play.
Guitar Hero Live's microtransactions aren't necessarily as bad as certain sections of the gaming community would have you believe and the new controller presents a fresh new challenge that Guitar Hero veterans will be hungry to take on. The offline GH Live mode is very cool, albeit short-lived, even if the on-disc track selection is lacklustre, but the real meat in the pie is GHTV. It isn't as fully-featured as we'd have expected it to be off the bat, but being able to jump in and spin through a selection from the 200+ tracks (with lots more to come, we're told) for an hour while earning rewards and upgrades is pure addiction.
It's as if the developers have listened to many of the complaints that were levied at previous titles in the franchise and decided to finally do something about it with Assassin's Creed: Syndicate. Framerate problems persist – not nearly as much as in the last game – but they've stripped out the things that diluted the fun of the earlier titles and focused on giving the player the ability to do what they want, when they want and not only that, but to go about it however they want. There's no broken co-op or botched multiplayer here and as we've said, there's no need for a companion app. The focus is back on single player stealth and freedom, with the final game giving us the feeling that the franchise is absolutely back on track. Excellent fun.
Rock 'N Racing Off-Road DX is not a game that you'll be coming back to if you bother to put in the hour or so it'll take to complete it. There are very occasional second-long moments where the game is almost fun, but the shockingly bad AI, physics that seem to be both too floaty and too heavy at the same time somehow and an amateurish bare-bones feel mean that you should definitely be looking elsewhere for your arcade racing fix.
Crimsonland is a very simple game that is tough to master. Whilst being a lot of fun while it lasts, we can't help but feel that it's missing that undefinable something. There are definitely visual shortcomings that some people won't be able to get past (although that's more on them than the developer) and though there's simple enjoyment to be had, there's also a feeling that a lot more could have been done to mix things up for players who want a deeper experience. It'll definitely be one that you'll pick up every now and again for a quick hour of cathartic Survival mode gunplay though, that's for sure.
Some will take solace in the somewhat simplistic gameplay and be hooked on its psychedelic charms as there is the occasional high point to be found, but repetition and poor choices in terms of the control scheme will undoubtedly get in the way of that for most.
It would be harsh to overly punish Kaiju Panic for the problems that it contains, simply because the mix of tower defence and RTS gameplay works so well. It surely won't be to everybody's tastes and some will get frustrated when a lack of knowledge or a varying enemy attack path causes them to fail a level, but those that like a challenge will enjoy what Mechabit have created here.
The Jackbox Party Pack 2 is a compilation of four great games and one that misses the target. There's easily more than enough laughs to be had here for the asking price. Some may feel a little bit short-changed by the inclusion of Quiplash XL if they've already paid money for it as a stand-alone product, but even they should find that there's more than enough entertainment here for their money. This is a well-made and entertaining collection that's sure to put a smile on the face of the most curmudgeonly party guest and become a staple amongst regular gaming buddies.
Rugby League Live 3 contains a multitude of impressive features that you'd usually really only expect from the 2ks and EAs of this world and that's to the developer's credit. Extremely detailed off the pitch and generally fun on it, the game is it's only let down by a number of areas where the polish hasn't been applied as well as it could have been. Sadly, those issues do start to mount up with extended play but was it not for the player selection issue, it would have scored an extra point here for sure.
It may be passé to say, but FIFA 16 is a game of two halves. Off the field, not much has changed that you could really write home about. The stalwarts of career mode and Ultimate Team feel much the same as they did before with very minor changes. With the ball at your feet though, the tooth-and-nail fights to hold on to a 1-0 lead against superior opposition or to take advantage of an entirely organic mistake to equalise in the final knockings of a lower league cup match, along with the general feeling that you're taking part in a decent tactical battle are stellar. The things EA hasn't shouted about are the things that they've clearly worked the hardest on and while there are still flaws, this is the best on-pitch representation of the beautiful game since Konami's PlayStation 2 efforts.
It's as if the developers of Rugby World Cup 2015 hate you for daring to hope that they'd made up for the near-intolerable Rugby 15. If you've shelled out for this then it's fair to say that you'll hate them right back. This is easily the worst game available for Xbox One - sports or otherwise - and is without any shadow of a doubt one of the worst officially-licenced sports games of all time. Absolutely atrocious on every single level.
Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 is a strange entry in the series. The improvements are obvious and clear to see from the outset but the areas in which it has taken a step backward take a lot longer to actually uncover. You don't realise that you haven't conceded a free kick for ages until you've played more than a handful of games. You don't realise that the keepers pretty much can't save low shots until you've conceded a dozen goals in the bottom corner. This means that your time with PES this year will be spent playing for an hour or two and then putting the controller down in frustration. It's to Konami's great credit that it somehow always calls you back to it.
Pumped BMX+ is a good advertisement for mobile game ports on Xbox One. Crafted with care and not just spit out onto the platform in under five minutes, the game is easy to pickup and tough to master. Despite the amount of gameplay addicted players will get out of it, a little more variation and the inclusion of any sort of multiplayer play – H.O.R.S.E. anyone? – would have seen it score higher, though there's plenty going on here to justify the price for lone players. Good fun.
Some of the off-track functionality in Forza Motorsport 6 is sometimes surprisingly lazily implemented but you'll tend to forget that when you're in a battle with the elements, trying to shave a tenth of a second off your laptime in your newly-tuned favourite racer, or simply gawking at the outstanding visuals. Time ebbs away when you're playing. "One more race" becomes "one more series" and then you just pop online to have a quick League race, then you just have to take on a rival's laptime real quick…and soon it's 5am and you realise exactly how much game you get for your buck. Warts and all, this is well worth the investment.
Asteroid Base have done a fine job with Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, providing that you're a co-op gamer. Single players will likely find that they enjoy things up until the game becomes too overwhelming. Still, as a whole, there's a lot to like here – including genuine innovation - and it's definitely something different.
Super Toy Cars is a seemingly rushed and unfinished port of a barely average game.
Mega Man Legacy Collection feels incomplete, even at the relatively low asking price. You get the first six titles that form the basis of the Mega Man Legacy (which is apt, given the compilation's name) but other than an entertaining challenge mode, there doesn't appear to be much in the way of love shown to the franchise here.
The team at Tic Toc Games have done a great job here for sure, but we just wish that there was either more volume to it in general, or more of a challenge to what is provided. It's definitely an enjoyable enough way to while away a couple of hours.
Outside of the game-ending glitches and the poorly designed collection mission that we've mentioned, the experience is tension-filled and easily right up there with the best survival horror titles available today. The problem is that there's a very good chance that you'll give up after your umpteenth unfair death way before reaching the closing credits.